Why You Need to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone this Year
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How long have you been living in your comfort zone? And how much has your comfort zone held you back from living the life you truly want?
These are serious questions that we need to ask ourselves.
Stepping outside of your comfort zone can be challenging, but it also plays an important role in our personal growth and development. It is how you learn what you truly want in life, how you reach goals, and figure out what true happiness means to you.
Join me in this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, where I talk about stepping outside of your comfort zone in 2023.
What I discussed:
Getting uncomfortable promotes personal growth.
It helps you expand your horizons and see the world in a different light.
Getting uncomfortable improves problem-solving skills.
Discomfort actually increases happiness.
Stepping out of your comfort zone shows you what you actually want.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Episode 174: Are You Living Every Day Better?
The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey. Hey, beautiful human. Can I steal 5 minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with Me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace a real. Let's get it. Let's go.
Hello and welcome to another bonus episode on the Embrace Your Real Podcast. We are talking about why you need to step outside your comfort zone this year. Now, in your day to day life, do you aim for comfort or discomfort? I know what you're thinking. Of course I want to be comfortable. I want to live at a comfortable, you know, temperature. I want to work hard so I can live in a comfortable place. I want to have foods readily accessible so that I can always be comfortable in terms of what I'm eating. And I know that this is a crisis that we're going through. In fact, I just finished a book not too long ago.
I mentioned it on a few episodes ago, but it's called The Comfort Crisis. It's by an author named Michael Easter, just a really challenging book. Honestly, it challenged me so much. I listen to the book, but I also was reading it because I feel, I feel like personally I retain the information a lot better when I'm listening and I'm looking at the words. I am a very visual learner, but I also have been wanting to try to get better in terms of reading, like being a better reader, like not just listening to things. And so I have found that that has been super beneficial for me.
But this book, The Comfort Crisis, I'll link it in the show notes below. It's called It's It's by Michael Easter. You can find out on Amazon Audible but meant it really challenged me and I get it like being comfortable is nice and for many of us like we work hard to build a very comfortable life. But how long have you been living in your comfort zone? And better yet, has your comfort zone really held you back from living the life that you truly want?
These are the serious questions that we have to ask ourselves. Like I get it. Stepping outside of our comfort zone is challenging, but it's also super important to grow and develop as a person. And it's also like, Man, how are you learning what you want to learn if you don't get outside of your comfort zone? How are you going to reach the goals that you could only dream of reaching if you don't get outside of your comfort zone? I really, really want to challenge us this year to get outside our comfort zone so that we can grow as individuals. We can reach new things, we can experience new things simply because we're placing ourself outside of our comfort zone.
So that's what we're going to be talking about in today's bonus episode. Before we dive in, though, I want to share this trivia comes from Black Butterfly 71 to give a five star review and said eight things for entering the New Year successfully.
I was looking through different podcasts to listen to and what I wanted to listen to, something that really helped me to prepare myself for the upcoming year and being successful. I really enjoyed your podcast and the information you shared and helped me to revisit my vision board and my journal where I wrote my goals for this past year. Life happened and I didn't achieve my goals as I set out to, but thank you for providing the tools to reflect, question, define and not falling for a quick fix as well as setting new goals. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. This has been so informative. I look forward to hearing more from you.
Well, I'm so grateful that not only you were able to find this podcast, but that you were able to revisit your vision board and your journals where you initially set your goals for last year. And not only that, I'm really proud of you for being honest with yourself and reflecting and saying like, Dang, I didn't reach what I wanted to, but I am going to commit to reaching X, Y and Z goals and I have, you know, the tools to do that, to be able to reflect and question and define and really get very specific this year so that you don't feel the need to fall for a quick fix and you can actually get to the end of this year feeling successful and reaching all the goals that you want to reach. So grateful for you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to Senate in.
Let's dive in to why getting outside your comfort zone is so important.
Number one, getting uncomfortable promotes personal growth. You can't really grow as a person if you're always comfortable. Growth requires discomfort. By stepping outside of your comfort zone, you can expose yourself to new experiences or challenges that can really help grow you as a person. You can learn new sides of yourself and you can also overcome adversity. You can learn to become stronger physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Personal growth can truly only happen when you're willing to step outside of the known and kind of find what exists in the unknown. Right? The more you step into discomfort, the more you will learn about yourself and the more you'll be able to grow into the person that you want to become in the different various aspects of your life.
Number two, it helps you expand your horizons and see the world in a different light. When you try new things, you might encounter new perspectives or ways of thinking that will help to broaden your understanding of the world. Right? If you stay in your comfort zone, we're never going to be exposed to new things, new perspectives, new way of thinking, or even have like other people's wisdom or perspectives on life because we're just constantly staying in this comfortable bubble. But when you're able to expand your horizon and you're able to see different perspectives and views and beliefs and be challenged in certain areas of your life, it allows you to really look at your life and ask yourself like, Man, what is my real perspective on life or on this specific issue? Or what is my real belief about this? And at the end of the day, I think that that's the most beautiful thing, because I think that we're able to broaden our horizons and be able to meet new people and look at things through a different lens, which can open yourself up to learning more or gaining more wisdom and seeing a world that is even more beautiful than you can ever imagine simply because you're looking at it differently.
Number three, getting uncomfortable really improves problem solving skills. When you step outside your comfort zone, you may be faced with problems or challenges that you never encountered before. And this can really help develop your problem solving skills and help you to become more resourceful. Plus, by learning to navigate these difficult situations, it can help you to build resilience and also become better equipped to handle challenges in the future, which will allow you to deal with more stressful situations in the future, with greater ease, and reduce the amount of anxiety that you feel.
Now, one thing I want to say about this is Josh and I are looking into tent camping, so we recently just got a tundra and we've been wanting to have a tent on top of the tundra for like ever. But it's something that is so scary for me. And I don't I know for some of you guys are like, That's so fun. Other others are like, No way. But for me that that was me for for the longest time I said, No way. But then the other side of me was like, But what if? Like, what if we could, like, camp out of our tent on top of our truck for like a week or two weeks or even a month? Like, what if we went on like, a month long road trip? So this is really like a perfect example of really trying to get outside your comfort zone. And I know that when we do it, not if we will, when we get our tent and we do the the tundra tent camping, we're going to be able to become more resourceful. And especially me like Josh is. He grew up hunting, he grew up outdoors all the time. But for me, like, I didn't really grow up doing that. Like we tend to we, you know, tent camped maybe a handful of times in my life, but I was more so like, I'll always get a hotel or I'll always get like the most comfortable place to sleep in. And so I want to encourage you, if there's something in your life, this kid, this could be like, you want to challenge yourself to get outside your comfort zone in this way and you know, maybe camp more or get outside more or whatever it is, or it could be something totally different. But this just reminds me of my situation that I'm going through. And I know by the end of whether it's a week, which I'm like, Josh, can we just start with a week? And he's like, What if we just go online for a month? I'm like, Oh my gosh, it's going to be crazy. But I know by the end of it I'm going to be able to have better problem solving skills. I'm going to become more resourceful. I'm going to become more confident outside. And it only happens by actually getting through those difficult situations and getting outside your comfort zone. So I just want you to know that as I'm saying this, I'm personally going through something that I'm like, okay, I'm going to challenge myself to do this and I want to invite you alongside that journey.
Number four, discomfort actually increases happiness.
Did you actually know that there have been studies shown that engaging in new and challenging activities can actually increase your overall happiness and well-being? One study published by the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who reported engaging in activities outside of their comfort zone actually experienced a greater life satisfaction compared to those who don't.
And another study published in the Journal of Motivation and Emotion found that people who regularly engage in activities outside of their comfort zone are reported to have higher levels of positive feelings like joyfulness satisfaction compared to those who did not. So if you are lacking in happiness, if you're lacking in overall fulfillment, I want to challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone and see what happens.
And number five, stepping outside of your comfort zone shows you what you actually want. It's really impossible for us to know what we want without actually experiencing what we want. Right now, we're only seeking the best of what we know. We're seeking the things that have previously made us happy and we try to replicate that happiness. This is why I think it's always important to place ourselves outside of our comfort zone so that we can try new things, expose ourselves to new situations, and then we can really figure out what brings us joy. And maybe even new hobbies or passions arise from that.
Like personally, I remember when I was in this space of like telling myself for months on end, I'm just going to quit the gym like I'm going t quit the gym cold turkey, and I'm just going to try these dumbbell workouts. But I was terrified. I was like, so scared to lose all the progress that I made, but yet I was in this place in my life where I was already skipping the gym so much I was just not consistent. And I wasn't finding joy in the gym anymore. And it wasn't until I stepped outside of my comfort zone and I said, I'm just going to cut the damn cold turkey. I'm going to try I'm going to dust off these dumbbells that my dad gave me when he was moving to California. And that had been sitting in our garage for like 7 to 8 months before I even picked up one.
And it wasn't until I got outside my comfort zone that I realized like, Oh my gosh, dumbbell workouts are my thing. I will never go back to the gym. I love demo workouts at home. I love the variety, I love the convenience of them. I love them so much. But I would have never known that if I wouldn't have stepped outside my comfort zone.
We need to stop assuming that we don't like certain things until we try it. We need to step outside our comfort zone in order to try it and then decide whether or not it's something that we want to keep in our life and pursue.
And bonus reason number six. There's actually no such thing as a real comfort. The only thing we have is our idea of what is comfortable. But here's the thing, nothing in life is permanent, no matter how safe or how comfortable it feels. You might choose a job because it feels safe, but you have no idea what the future holds. Maybe that company will go bankrupt. Maybe they'll sell out. Maybe a recession hits and there's a bunch of layoffs. Like you really don't know until you try it.
You have to remember that comfortable does not equal safe. And that's why it is okay. In fact, I'm going to argue it is essential to embrace discomfort, to step into something that feels uncomfortable or something that feels like it's not 100% secure because no matter what, nothing will ever be comfortable forever. Life will force you to grow if you don't force yourself.
So all in all, I want to encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and know that it will be so rewarding. It will be so enriching. Yes, it's going to be hard. Yes, there's going to be times that you're going to want to swing right back into that comfort zone and be like, okay, actually, never mind. You know, that could be me. I could be one two nights into this ten camping thing and being like, Absolutely not. This is the worst decision I've ever made, but I don't know anything until I try it. And so I want to encourage you to get uncomfortable this year. I want to encourage you to step outside that comfort zone. And I just want to leave you with a story because I think it's important. And for any of you guys who are maybe thinking about and or know a new business or a new venture or something, I specifically remember when I graduated college in 2012, I graduated with a business administration degree with a concentration in marketing.
And at the time I was working at a salon and I had just recently got promoted to open up a new location with a salon. So the second location of this salon was a super secure job. It was a small business, but we were growing rapidly and it was amazing and I was super invested in this company. I loved it so much and I at the time was diving into all this and I had, you know, my ten year vision of like, I'm going to open up X amount of salons with this company and this is going to be my thing. I'm going to go into salons and like teach business, like I'm going to be the business person in the salon, not the actual stylists in the salon. [0
And I ended up meeting Josh, my husband, right after college. I graduated in May, was on track to be the manager and help open up the second location. Just, you know, a few months later. And I met Josh in September of 2012, and I remember about four months into our relationship, he was like, Hey, do you want to quit your job and start this company with me? And I was like, You're crazy. Absolutely not. This is crazy. Like, I don't even know. I mean, I know him. I knew I knew that he was going to be my husband, which is a whole other story. But I just specifically remember being like, You're crazy. Absolutely not. And it was because I was scared to step outside my comfort zone. And so and about a year went by a little bit less than a year. And throughout that time, you know, he would drop it like, are you sure you don't want to quit this and, you know, help start this company? And I was like, no, no, no.
Finally, it was in July of the following year. So he started working on me like September, October, November, December ish of 2012. And it wasn't until July of 2013 that I, I decided to quit my job. We had at that time, we had opened up the successfully opened up the second location of that salon. I was on track, you know, to open up other salons and really just help grow this company. And yet I felt called to quit that, quit my secure job that, you know, I had all these things lined up for me. It was a very safe, secure job and. I just remember feeling scared out of my mind. I remember. Yes, I was scared. Like to fail. But I think even more so What was holding me back at that time? Because I was 23. I was scared of what people would think, especially my family. Like I had gone the college route, the more traditional route in terms of like getting a secure job, you know? It was a it was a small business, it was a salon, but it was a very successful salon. So even though it was a small business, it wasn't like a corporate job. I felt very secure in that.
And man, I am just so grateful that I decided to step outside my comfort zone and help start the company. And, you know, I quit my job. I worked with was Ledbetter was at the time is called LP3. And here I am with Joshua. And my gosh, 20, 23, ten years later, and this company has grown so much, we've been able to serve so many women over the last ten years. And I'm just it all started from me stepping outside my comfort zone and being so uncomfortable and and risking failure, like really risking it all. And I can't imagine my life in a salon now. Like, I can't even imagine what that room would look like ten years later. And it really started for me just stepping outside my comfort zone.
So I don't know who that story was for, but I hope that it encourages someone to just risk it and do it and do the thing, start the business or start the hobby or reach out to this person. You just never know where it's going to take you. And so I hope that that encourages you.
Let me just remind you of those five things.
Number one, getting uncomfortable can really help to promote personal growth.
Number two, it helps you to expand your horizons and see the world in a different light.
Number three, getting uncomfortable improves problem solving skills.
Number four, discomfort has been proven by many studies to actually increase happiness.
Number five, stepping outside your comfort zone can show you what you actually want.
And bonus reason number six There is actually no such thing as real comfort.
The only thing we have is our idea of what is comfortable. Just remember this Nothing in life is permanent. No matter how safe are comfortable it feels in the moment. Things are fleeting. You never know what's going to change. And so I just want to encourage you to step outside your comfort zone. This year. I am so excited to see what comes from it. I know so many amazing things will come from it and I can't wait to hear about it and I likely won't hear about it until a few months or even a few years later. But I hope that this was the catalyst. I hope that this helped start you to start thinking differently. I actually have another episode on just kind of this overall theme. It's episode 174. Are you living every day better? Remember that life doesn't allow us to go back and relive our past, but it does allow us to move forward and live each day better than our last. And so that is exactly what I talk about. In episode 174. I will link that in the show notes below, but that is all that I have for today's episode.
If you have a girlfriend, a friend or a coworker, someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this posted up on your story. I would love to know how you are choosing to get outside your comfort zone this year, so be sure to tag me so that I can hype you up. I am your hype girl. I love you so much. I mean it and I'll talk to you in the next time.
All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, a lot better. Yes. It's women in the middle for that daily poser about real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace real because you're worth it.